EU asylum requests down by 11% in 2024, but still exceed one million

03.03.2025 - 07:55 / euronews.com

The number of asylum applications registered across the European Union, Norway and Switzerland decreased by 11% in 2024 but remained above the one-million mark for a second consecutive year, according to the annual report released by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) on Monday morning.

Overall, 1,014,420 requests for international protection were filed last year, compared to the 1,143,437 requests recorded in 2023.

Notably, the report shows that almost half (48%) of the one million applications were submitted by citizenships with historically low chances of a successful decision, suggesting they are likely to be eventually turned down by national authorities.

The trend is set to compound the recurring worries of EU member states, which have asked Brussels to reform the current legislation to speed up the deportation of rejected asylum seekers, such as economic migrants who come to the continent searching for better living conditions rather than escaping persecution or ill-treatment.

The European Commission has endorsed the contentious idea of building camps (also known as "return hubs") outside EU territory to transfer those whose applications are denied. A revamped Return Directive is expected to be unveiled later this month.

In line with recent years, Syrians, Afghans, Venezuelans, Turks, and Colombians represented the largest groups of applicants in 2024, according to the EUAA report.

Syrian requests (151,000) went down by 17% in total and 24% in Germany, the main host country. The change is not directly linked to the fall of Bashar al-Assad's autocracy, which happened only in December and whose effects are yet to fully materialise.

Claims by Afghans (87,382), Turks (55,705) and Colombians (51,529) also declined.

By contrast, Venezuelan applications rose to 73,187, a record-high figure since at least 2014. The vast majority of these (90%) were lodged in Spain.

As a result of ongoing conflict in the Central Sahel region, Spain experienced extraordinary migratory pressure in the Canary Islands. Applications from citizens of Mali (17,000) and Senegal (14,000) doubled in size from the previous year.

Ukrainians fleeing Russia's war lodged 27,000 asylum requests in 2024, a 90% rise compared to 2023. The pronounced rise is linked to the Temporary Protection Directive, a special regime that applies to Ukrainian citizens and is set to expire in March 2026. Applying for asylum can provide a long-term alternative to the directive.

Regarding destination countries, Germany remained clearly at the top with over 237,000 applications in 2024. The tally, though, represents a 29% drop compared to 2023.

Irregular migration was one of the issues that dominated the debate of the parliamentary elections in February.